Saturday, 24 June 2017

“A man calumniated is doubly
injured - first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.”
- Herodotus

Antonio Salieri (18 August 1750 – 7 May 1825) was an
Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago,
south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career
as a subject of the Habsburg Monarchy. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the
development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold
Gassmann, and a protégé of Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote
operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the
features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful
influence on contemporary composers.

Appointed the director of the
Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792,
Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career he also
spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his
dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As
the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was responsible for
music at the court chapel and attached school.

Even as his works dropped from
performance, and he wrote no new operas after 1804, he still remained one of
the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation, and his
influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna’s musical life. Franz Liszt, Franz
Schubert, and Ludwig van Beethoven were among the most famous of his pupils.
Salieri’s music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868
and was rarely heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the
late 20th century.

This revival was due to the dramatic and highly fictionalised
depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s play “Amadeus” (1979) and its 1984 film
version. His music today has regained some modest popularity via recordings. He
is popularly remembered as a supposedly bitter rival of Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. This includes rumours that Salieri murdered Mozart out of jealousy,
when in reality, they were at least respectful peers.

Here is a series of Twenty-six
Variations on the Popular Theme of “La Folìa”
for orchestra written in 1815, which is astonishing by its modernity, its luminous
and light orchestration (contrary to the trends of Salieri’s time). The use of the
harp, the short and sharp orchestral tutti, orchestral soloists (bassoon, oboe,
flute, etc), is simply brilliant. Salieri has composed here a work of an
indisputable thematic solidity in turn, dreamy, dramatic, playful, romantic,
seductive, and served by an impeccable orchestration.

This work is emblematic
of a trend that progressed well into the nineteenth century, notably in France
and Italy, from Paganini to Saint-Saëns, Rossini and Debussy, who all believed
that music should be clear and simple if it carries within its foundation a clear
depth and density. There are still some typical passages in classical variation
form in this piece, a rather rough finish, and a very shy use of brass, but 15
years before the “Symphonie Fantastique” of Berlioz we cannot expect similar
treatments that are more Romantic in their scope. On the other hand, some
passages involving the harp and the violin are worthy of the finest
impressionist melodies of the end of the 19th century. Enjoy!

Friday, 23 June 2017

“Go vegetable heavy. Reverse
the psychology of your plate by making meat the side dish and vegetables the
main course.” - Bobby Flay

We recently had this tart made
from a recipe a friend gave us and it was quite delicious. We did “tamper” a
little with it to make it a trifle more agreeable to us and it all worked out
very nicely!

VEGETABLE TART

Ingredients

1 Middle Eastern flatbread
large enough to line the bottom of a quiche pan

Olive oil

400g butternut pumpkin, peeled,
cubed

1 red capsicum, sliced

1 red onion, cut into thin
wedges

1/3 cup chopped chives

4 eggs

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
cheese

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground dry mustard

1 ripe tomato

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C
fan-forced. Place baking tray on top shelf of oven. Line another baking tray
with baking paper.

Use olive to brush both sides
of the flatbread thoroughly. Place it on the bottom of a 30 cm quiche pan.

Place pumpkin, capsicum and
onion in a bowl and drizzle olive oil in it, tossing the vegetables until they
are thoroughly coated with oil (but not too much!). Season with salt and
pepper.

Spread the vegetables on the
prepared baking tray and place on lower shelf of oven. Bake for 15 to 20
minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Remove vegetables from oven.
Reduce oven temperature to 160°C fan-forced.

Place eggs, cream, cheese and
spices in a large jug. Whisk to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange
vegetables in the quiche pan. Pour egg mix over the vegetables. Decorate with
finely sliced tomato rondels. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden and
just set. Serve hot.

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

“Glasgow is less polite than
Edinburgh but that’s a good thing - they keep it very real.” - Nik Kershaw

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.

Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Glasgow (Scots: Glesga; Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu) is the
largest city in Scotland, and third largest in the United Kingdom. Historically
part of Lanarkshire, it is now one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It is
situated on the River Clyde in the country’s West Central Lowlands. Inhabitants
of the city are referred to as Glaswegians. Glasgow grew from a small rural
settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Britain.

Expanding from the medieval
bishopric and royal burgh, and the later establishment of the University of
Glasgow in the 15th century, it became a major centre of the Scottish
Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as
one of Great Britain’s main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America and
the West Indies. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the population
and economy of Glasgow and the surrounding region expanded rapidly to become one
of the world’s pre-eminent centres of chemicals, textiles and engineering; most
notably in the shipbuilding and marine engineering industry, which produced
many innovative and famous vessels.

Glasgow was the “Second City
of the British Empire” for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period,
although many cities argue the title was theirs. In the late 19th and early
20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, reaching a peak of 1,127,825 in
1938. Comprehensive urban renewal projects in the 1960s, resulting in
large-scale relocation of people to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed
by successive boundary changes, reduced the population of the City of Glasgow
council area to 599,650 with 1,209,143 people living in the Greater Glasgow
urban area. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers about 2.3 million
people, 41% of Scotland’s population.

Glasgow hosted the 2014
Commonwealth Games and is also well known in the sporting world for the
football rivalry of the Old Firm between Celtic and Rangers. Glasgow is also
known for Glasgow patter, a distinct dialect that is noted for being difficult
to understand by those from outside the city.

Sunday, 18 June 2017

Ivan Ivanovich Godlevsky (Russian: Иван Иванович Годлевский; March 9, 1908, Kholm Governorate, Russian Empire – August 20, 1998, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was born in the town of Dobromychi (then the territory of Poland) in 1908. In 1913 his parents died in the First World War and he was admitted into the shelter of Countess Veniaminova in Moscow, but after the revolution he was brought up in an orphanage.

Since his early childhood Ivan was fond of drawing and painting. In 1926 he graduated from the Mirgorod Art School and then entered the Kiev Academy, where his talent was noted by a professor at the Krichevsky Academy. After the Kiev Academy he was drafted into the army, where he served until 1935. In 1936 he was admitted to the Leningrad Art Academy for the quality of his work without exams. He studied at the studio of Alexander Aleksandrovich Osmyorkin, was his favorite student and was a friend of the master for the rest of his life.

The war found the artist in Gurzuf, where he was writing his thesis. Godlevsky went into the army, went to war, was awarded a medal and was demobilised in 1946. He was able to graduate from the Academy only in 1949 and began to teach in the famous Muchinka. At the same time he was elected chairman of the painting section of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Artists.

Party member, war hero, professor of a prestigious university and head of the painting section, Godlevsky could have had a successful career. However, he was extremely honest in his relations with art and never changed his artistic principles. Godlevsky worked not for recognition, but for art. In his diary he wrote: “Creativity is the way to absolute happiness and the only meaning of life.” In 1956 Godlevsky fulfilled an important state order and received a considerable sum of money for it. He retired as professor and completely devoted himself to his passion - painting. To create pictures for him was a vital necessity. That is why in his paintings it is easy to see not only the great talent of the artist, but also his own sense of the fullness of being. Having thoroughly studied the foundations of impressionism, the artist created his own bright, easily recognizable, individual style in painting back in the early 1950s. It is noteworthy that this style remained characteristic of the artist until the end of his life.

The most devoted admirer of Godlevsky’s creativity was his wife, Vera Dmitrievna Lyubimova. It so happened that at first she fell in love with his paintings, and then in the artist himself. They were married in 1957.

In 1961 the first solo exhibition of Ivan Godlevsky’s works was held in the exhibition hall of the Leningrad Union of Artists. As soon as it opened, people stood in line in the street in order to be admitted. Newspapers reviews were not as complimentary and the artist was criticised for “formalism and Frenchness”. Still, the exhibition was so successful that it was approved for a visiting display in 12 more cities, but after Leningrad it was held only in Lviv. The second solo exhibition was organised in the Union of Artists only in 1978.

In 1990 the artist was invited to Paris and after the first successful exhibition of 150 of his works, they were submitted for sale to the French public at the famous Parisian auction house, Drouot, where 148 were sold. Godlevsky became a famous artist in France and decided to stay there continuing his painting. He settled with his wife in the South of France in the town of Le Pradet, near St. Tropez. Subesquently, further exhibitions of Godlevsky’s works were organised in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Sweden and Italy. In December 1996 the artist decided to return to Russia, to his studio in St. Petersburg. In 1998 he died in his native land, his work finally acknowledged as significant and original.

The painting above is “On the Banks of the Ancient Volkhov River”, painted in 1970. It is rathe rdark and brooding, contrasting with others of his works that are brighter and perhaps more decorative such as his “Fishing Boats” or some that are more exotic and reminiscent of the orientalist tradition such as his “Samarkand”.

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Welcome to Nicholas V's Blog on Blogger

I have been blogging daily on this platform for several years now. It is surprising that I have persisted as the world is changing and "microblogging" is now the norm. I blog to amuse myself, make comment on current affairs, externalise some of my creativity, keep notes on things that interest me, learn something new and to surprise myself with things that I discover about this wonderful, and sometimes crazy, world we live in.

I sometimes get the impression that I am on a soapbox delivering a monologue, so your comments are welcome.